30 Days to Write a Novel
by Eryessa
Summary: Sheamus helps a young woman participate in a month long event called NANOWRIMO, short for National Novel Writing Month. Let's see what will happen in the 30 days of writing, shall we? I'm not sure if this will come out to be a SheamusOC fic but let's see how it goes. I love Reviews!
1. Day 1: 1,667 Words

Day 1: 1,667 words

"Damn bleedin' sling," He said as the waves of the Pacific Ocean muffled his thick Irish accent.

Ever since he hurt himself, Stephen Farrelly was biting at the bit, as the Americans would say, to get back into a WWE ring again but his shoulder injury had cost him six months of injury leave. And as a WWE superstar, his passion was to be wrestling in a ring in front of thousands of people, millions more over the TV, but he was stuck back home in St. Augustine, Florida. Not to mention, the sling he was forced to use was starting to drive him stark raving mad.

So the only thing for Stephen to do was go for a walk, not that sitting around and getting fat in front of the TV was the best option for a pro athlete like him to do. On this particular day, November First of 2013, he set out down the beach near his nice home in a gate community. The air was brisk, slightly chilly, especially early in the morning like it was. Clouds floated by over the brightening blue sky as the sun rose in the east, towards his left as he walked the beach. Walking the coast was something he picked up back in his life in Dublin, Ireland. A major port city as Dublin was, and a tourist destination, the cliffs and the beaches around Dublin was not usually seen as enticing to any tourist. It was his peace of mind.

Lost in thought of his homeland, Stephen sighed and kept going. One foot in front of the other, that's all he had to do. And then his right foot hit something, and the momentum of his walk nearly propelled him head over heel into the soft sand, probably would have injured his shoulder more but it didn't. He did manage to catch himself before he did so. And when he realized that it was a backpack he had tripped over, a familiar one at that, he looked up.

Hidden behind big round glasses and a mass of bright blonde hair, snuggled into an old sweatshirt belonging to his favorite rugger team, sat a girl, a lass really. And behind those glasses he saw her eye grow big as she stopped typing away at her Surface Tablet that was perched on her lap.

"Sally, that you?" He asked, tilting his head down to look at her.

Of course it was her. The poor thing was forced to interact with him by her father when David Gallagher had to work late. Turned out that the girl had a fondness for soccer and rugby hence why he had given her that sweatshirt.

"Uh, yeah, it's me." She clicked some keys on the click-on keyboard to her tablet before proceeding to turn off the small device. "My therapist told me that I had to start going out."

"That's good. But why the beach?" He asked, glancing down at the things around her. "What's all of this stuff?" Stephen motioned to her slightly opened backpack. It was jam packed with books, no titles in which he could see.

"They are just reference books to something that I'm working on. It's nothing really." She said, reaching over to close the bag.

"May I sit with you for a spell? That is if you don't mind."

"Sure, I, I guess that's okay." She nodded.

Sally Gallagher was unlike a lot of other eighteen years olds Stephen knew, not that he knew any per se. But she was oddly grown up for being eighteen, yet still childish and skittish around anyone she didn't know. David told him it had been when she was ten and someone had broken into the house when the family was there. She'd been scared ever since of people she didn't know. And as David Gallagher was a friend of Stephen's, David considered Stephen a good person to look out for his daughter.

"How are you doing?" Stephen asked as he settled into the sand in front of her.

"Okay, I guess. I'm not complaining."

"So, are you going to tell me what is with the books or am I going to have to play twenty questions?"

"Do you promise not to laugh?" She asked, looking at him.

"I won't, I promise."

"It's a thing called NANOWRIMO," she pronounced it like Nano-Rye-Moe. "What NANOWRIMO stands for is National Novel Writing Month. It is where you have to write a fifty thousand word novel in one month, and I am trying it."

"What does it entail? I mean, what do you have to do?"

"Roughly speaking, you have to write one thousand, six hundred and sixty seven words a day in order to get to fifty thousand within thirty days."

He nodded. "That seems a bit much."

"Not really. You know I like to write, a lot."

"Oh I know that for sure, Lass. Any time I'm over at your place, you're always typing away."

"But it's not just about writing a novel, it's getting out there and socializing with people. There are things called Write Ins, where you go out and go to places where other WriMos are at and start writing with them. They are doing word sprints and word wars, stuff like that to get word counts up. It's not necessarily about quality when it comes to writing in NANOWRIMO, it's quantity. You can always go back to edit later after the thirty days."

"Still sounds like a tall order."

"Not unless you have an outline and stuff like that planned ahead of time." She smiled slightly.

Stephen quietly admitted to himself that Sally did have a nice smile. "So, what are you writing about?" He asked before groaning when his shoulder moved the wrong way.

"I don't want to talk about that. I don't like to talk about what I'm writing until I'm mostly done."

"Oh, well if you need to ask questions then you can always come to me, you know that right?" He asked.

"Uh huh." She replied, nodding.

When he lightly touched her knee she flinched away, not that he could blame her. In any case, Stephen got up from the sand.

"So, I'll be seeing yah later, yeah?" he asked.

"Um, sure. If my brothers are being to rowdy and loud I might come over to your place for a bit. That is if you don't mind."

"Sure, I don't mind. Not that I have anything going on." He showed her his sling. "But hopefully today I will have it off. I'm seeing my doctor about getting out of it."

"I hope it works out for you, Stephen."

He got up, dusting the sand off with his pants. She was a nice lass, he told himself. Regardless that he was some celebrity, she was the one that had not been giggly like most people, girls in particular, when they met him. Her brothers were ecstatic but she was shy and timid. She actually ran away from him when he stood in the kitchen. Now she was opening up.

That was a good thing, Stephen told himself as he walked back towards his house.

* * *

**Okay, I'm going to tell you the reason behind this. I have been wanting to write a Sheamus fic for a long time, but nothing ever really stuck when thinking up a story. And then I started doing NANOWRIMO this year and I really enjoyed the fast pace writing it has. So while I am sort of in limbo with my other two main stories, I'm creating a shorter story centered on the 30 days of writing for NANOWRIMO. **


	2. Day 2: 3,333 Words

Day 2: 3333 words

Sally had been going good on this, keeping up with the words. She was ahead of schedule and happy with where the story was going. Yet, when she had come back from her morning outing to the nearby beach, she realized something was missing.

"Honey, isn't there a Write In that you need to be going to?" Her mom, Rochelle, asked as she sat in the quiet kitchen on this Saturday morning typing away at her Surface tablet.

"Yeah, but Daniel took my car." She said. "He didn't ask me."

Sally's mother groaned. "He was grounded from driving. He took your keys?"

"Yeah, I think so. I came down from my twenty minute writing session and my car was gone, the keys were gone from the hook. Dad's not here to give me a ride."

"And you want to still go, don't you?"

She shrugged, saving her document. "I can't leave if I'm feeling, feeling, disturbed."

"Okay. Um, how about going to Stephen and seeing if he would take you?" She suggested.

"He wouldn't want to hang around the library with a bunch of teenagers for hours on end."

"At least let him take you to the library and pick you up afterwards, or if you feel overwhelmed."

"Okay." Sally finally sighed, packing up her Surface.

Stephen lived two doors down from the Gallagher house. They were a nice family but had the one daughter that David Gallagher doted on. He had just gotten finished with her arm exercises for the day when there was a knock at the door. He didn't think twice about answering it shirtless, but then again this was a shy girl that stood there, turning as red in the face as his hair.

"Sally, what are you doing here?"

"My brother took my car, I can't get to the Write In at the Library today. Mom suggested that maybe you could give me a ride." She looked up at him, trying to focus on his face.

She wasn't dressed to impress. She wore simple jeans, a green shirt and her long hair was free falling down her back. Her features were as simple as her cloths, but she did have a beauty hiding within her.

"Sure, lass, come on in. I need to change first." Stephen said as she stepped aside to let her in his home.

There had only been a handful of times when Sally stood in his home. She always stood and looked at his mantel where he kept his King of the Ring crown. Once he had even caught her running her hand over the edges of the crown, mesmerized by it. And he did catch her doing it again as he came back from getting dressed five minutes later.

He smiled, watching her hand graze of the faux wooden crown. It was made to look like something from an Irish fairytale. He specifically asked for it. Even his so called shillelagh, the walking stick thing that went with his outfit, was up there for her to look at.

"Impressive, aren't they?" He asked, making Sally spin around, dropping the shillelagh to the floor with a clank.

"I'm so sorry."

"Oy, lass, it isn't a big deal. I've dropped them so many times it isn't funny." He said smiling. "Come on, mustn't let you be late."

The drive to the library was uneventful. Sally always remained quiet, anywhere. The library was no different.

"Well here we are." He said as they approached a conference room on the fourth floor of the library.

She froze, he could see it. There were kids in there, kids her age but she wasn't moving. She grasped her Surface tablet carry case to her and stared at it.

"Want me to come in with you, lass?" He asked.

"Um, are you sure? They are just a bunch of teenagers, what if they know who you are?"

"No big deal. I'm here for you." He touched her shoulder reassuringly, and this time she didn't flinch from him. "Home schooled or not, you need to be around people your own age."

"Okay. But as long as you're with me." She said, adjusting her large glasses on her nose.

The ML of the group, the Municipal Liaison, looked up and smiled at Stephen and Sally as they entered the conference room. "You two are right on time for the Write In." He said.

And the room went quiet when the group realized that it was Sheamus from the WWE, standing in the room with his good arm draped around some girl's shoulders.

"Hi. I'm Sally." She said, fidgeting with her bag. "I think I can handle it from here, Sheamus. I'll call you if I need to get a ride from here."

"You sure?" He asked, catching why she had called him by his ring name.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled tightly, not a happy smile in the least.

"Well okay, have fun. Call me." He gave her a one handed hug before leaving the room.

The moment he left the room he could hear the screeching and cheering of the kids within it.

Needless to say, when Stephen came to pick up the lass a few hours later, she was happy.

"All we did was talk about you." She told him.

Well it was a start for her at least, Stephen thought as he drove her home.

"Did you get some words in for your word count today?" he asked, making a conversation with her.

"I'm ahead of schedule. I somehow knew that when they saw you all they wanted to do was to get information out on you. But because I don't really know you all that well…" she trailed off.

"You know me enough, lass. You also know I would never hurt you. Why, my Granny would be rolling in her grave if she knew I hurt you."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Hear what?"

"Your grandmother being dead."

"That's what old people do, they die. We just have to learn to live with it and move on with our lives."

They got back to his place in relative silence. As they got out of Stephen's SUV, he caught sight of Sally's little Ford Focus just up the street, parked in her family's driveway.

"So your brother brought your car back in one piece." Stephen stated.

"Yeah, but is he in one piece? I don't know what's up with Daniel, he thinks he can do whatever he wants. And he's nineteen, he's older than me. He shouldn't be taking my car." Sally shook her head. "He should know better. Anyway, thank you for the help today, Stephen. I'm going to be out at the beach early tomorrow, if you want to meet me there."

"Maybe. I'm trying to get back in shape."

"Okay, I hope you don't hurt yourself again. Stay safe." She waved before walking down the road towards her house.

"Stay safe, Lass." He said quietly before returning to his own home.

* * *

**Yeah, how did you like this update?**


	3. Day 3: 5,000 Words

**Day 3: 5,000 Words**

* * *

It was already day three and the words were coming fast and rapid for Sally. There was a reason why she came to the beach. Her story, that's why. She always got up at six in the morning to come to the beach, because that was one of the settings in her story.

"Oy, how is it going, Lass?"

She looked up from her Surface tablet as Stephen neared her Sunday morning spot on the beach. Both wore sweatshirts because of the chill that ran along the sands and the waves. Even the gulls were having a hard time flying around. At some points, she noted, the birds seemed to be hovering in the air, not moving at all.

Stephen had a chair of his own, and a tablet like hers. That was a curious thing to see.

"I thought I would join you in a sit down." Stephen said as he put the tablet case in the sand next to her bag. "I thought about it, and since I have all the time in the world on my shoulder, maybe I would like to do this Nano writing thing myself."

"It's never too late, day three you have to have five thousand words done. Are you a plotter or a pantser?" Sally asked as Stephen set up his own chair in the sand next to her.

"A what and a what?" He asked, looking over at her as he sat in his chair, reaching for his own tablet.

"A plotter is someone who plots everything that's going to happen in the story. A pantser is someone who writes by the seat of their pants. I did about a week of preplanning before November first, the area, the people, history and some character creations. Then I decided what was going to happen first and what was going to happen last, and I was going to see how the middle turned out as I write it."

"Well then I'm just a bleedin' pantser. I only started last night. I'm up to two thousand words or so words."

"That's actually really good, Stephen. Remember, it's not quality but quantity as you go along."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just keep writing."

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming," Sally said in a sing-song voice.

Stephen snorted a laugh as he started up his tablet.

It was a thing to see, two people sitting in lawn chairs on the beach, wind blowing madly across the sand, even the gulls were in a foul mood. The man walking the dog down the beach stopped as he saw the larger man and lithe younger woman sitting next to each other. They were writing in this cold air.

"The sun should be out today." Stephen said as he looked over at Sally tapping away at her keyboard.

"That's good. Maybe the wind won't be as chilly. Don't you go to that Catholic Church on Main Street?" She asked. "It's Sunday you know."

"Ah, yeah, morning services don't start for two more hours. It's only eight AM. How long have you been out here?"

"Since six," She shivered slightly. "Maybe I should go inside. How is your word count?"

"It's good. I got to three thousand in the thirty minutes we've been out here. I suppose we should be gettin' inside." Stephen said as he stood up, wincing because he hadn't moved his shoulder the entire time he was there. "Maybe I'll get a good idea when in Church."

"That would be a good thing." She stated as she stood up as well. "And Mom doesn't want me getting a cold with sitting in the cold this way. I feel like and Eskimo waiting over an ice hole fishing."

"Then why come out to the beach this early?"

"Because, it's one of the only quiet times I have. Since my brother has been in trouble with the law, the house is not quiet. Daniel has no other place to live, otherwise on the street."

Stephen knew that there was some drama happening in the Gallagher household, but nothing like a young man going to the extremes like stealing his younger sister's car.

"Did you report that he took the car?"

"He's my brother, Stephen, he's family." She put her tablet in its case as she picked up her lawn chair.

"He did something wrong, Lass. I would report my own sister if something like that ever happened."

She grimaced. "Don't worry, I took the keys with me this time. They don't leave my pocket." She patted her jeans and looked over at him. "I'll see you later, Stephen. After church would you like to come over to my place and have a writing session with me?"

"Love to, Lass." He smiled.

The way to the beach was an inlet that started at the end of their cul-de-sac. It was only accessible on foot. Sally lived five houses down from the inlet and Stephen lived three houses from it. So Stephen stopped at his house first and then Sally went on to hers, waving as she went.

Eighteen, Stephen had to remind himself as he got ready for church. Eighteen bleedin' years old, he was old enough to be her Da. That was something Stephen didn't want to talk about.

It was a good thing that she was willing to get out and be around people again.

"It was never easy for her after the break in. I mean the man broke in through her window…" David said during one of their many Guiness gathers, as the man coined it. "She was in the room when it happened. Her screaming woke us up. Ever since then she has spent eight years afraid of people."

But she was different now. She was opening up to him, to other people. Staying with a group of teens when all they wanted to do was talk about Sheamus could not have been easy for her but she grew to accept it.

"Maybe this Nano thing is good." He said looking down at his tablet that was still in its carry case.

Thinking about it, he grabbed the case on the way out of his house, heading to Church afterwards.

* * *

After church and after changing out of his cloths, Stephen headed off towards the Gallagher house where he rang the doorbell. Through an open window he could hear the booming music of rap coming what he assumed was Daniel's room.

Moments later the door opened and there was Rochelle Gallagher standing in front of him.

"Stephen, David is working."

"Oh, I came to see Sally, if that is no problem. We're doing this NANOWRIMO together, writing separately of course."

"Of course. Come in, she's at the kitchen island." Rochelle stepped back and let the red haired burly man.

And sure enough she was sitting at the kitchen island where her mother said she would be. She had on a pair of headphones, blocking out the loud music that was playing upstairs.

"Ey, lass." He tapped her shoulder putting his own tablet down on the counter. She turned to look up at him and smiled as she slid the headphones off. "How's the story?"

"It's okay, so far. How's yours going?"

"I want to catch up for today and then really get a kick on it tomorrow."

"So sit down and catch up. Sorry about Daniel, he's on a strike."

"For what?"

"Mom and Dad gave him the option of getting a job to pay off getting a car or he can leave."

"Ah. Well, I think we can write for a while before quitting for the day. Don't you have lessons tomorrow?" He asked setting up the tablet.

"I do. I still plan on going to the beach at six in the morning. My tutor doesn't come by until noon."

After a bit of small talk, and drinks served by Sally's mother, the two of them spent half an hour silently writing on the tablets. The only thing that was annoying was Daniel's music.

"Thanks for the time, Rochelle." Stephen said as he was heading to the front door.

"Thanks for being a friend to my daughter. She's opening up more and more with this." Rochelle replied before saying goodbye and closing the door behind him.

Sally watched Stephen leave, through her window. An idea sparked in her mind suddenly and she bounded over to her tablet to get it out and onto her Word Document.

* * *

**Yeah, another update in the same day. How do you like it?**


	4. Day 4: 6,667 Words

**Day 4: 6,667 words**

* * *

November in Florida is usually mild, maybe slightly cold in the morning. Ever since Sally started coming out to the beach to work on her novel, it was refreshing and one of the big inspirations for her novel attempt.

**_The moon rose over the horizon along the Sea of Dublin…_** She wrote that, starting another chapter, it was chapter four at this time.

"Just keep writing, just keep writing…" She mumbled to herself. Well singing it mostly.

There was no chill of the wind this morning. Everything was calm and beautiful Sally would wake up at six, get down to the beach with a coffee thermos and watch the sun come up for the day. She had a new appreciation for the beach.

"Anything interesting happen yet, Lass?" Stephen asked as he caught the long gaze Sally held over the ocean.

She smiled at him. "I'm dealing with some inner critic crap. Remember, what you write you have to keep. Do Not Delete is another motto for this month." Sally then reached for her thermos and took a big gulp of it.

"Coffee, since when do you drink coffee?"

"Since sleep is starting to be interrupted by writing. Yes I get a good amount of sleep, but last night I had a writing spree after a plot bunny hit me hard in the head."

"You seem different." Stephen said as he set up his own chair.

"How so?"

"Well, for one, you seem more bubbly than before."

"I think it's the caffeine in the coffee. Coffee is the mascot of NANOWRIMO. Do you drink coffee?"

"More tea than anything else, I'm afraid. What's your word count?"

"Eight thousand and twenty two words, a personal best." She smiled. "What about you, what's your word count?"

"Six thousand, one hundred and thirty two, and to get more words out of it, I don't you contractions."

"Ah yes, the proverbial don't becomes do not method. I like that." She smiled.

After settling in next to her, Stephen turned on his tablet and set up the attachable keyboard.

"Are you going to tell me what you're writing?"

"I will if you tell me yours." She spoke as she clicked a few more keys.

"It's a romance of sorts between an older man and younger woman. Their families are not supportive and they have go about it in secret. Think Romeo and Juliet sort of story. Now it's you're turn, Lass."

There was a silence as Sally mulled over what she was going to say. Stephen thought she was going to revert back to being skittish.

"Mine is about a prince, but not any prince, he is a fairy prince from Ireland. Set in modern times, but with a twist. He steals away a woman but she already has a boyfriend, a fiancée, and the fiancée has to steal her back before the Solstice closes the veil and they are both trapped in the faerie world for a year, or longer." She explained.

"You've been listening to my tales, haven't you?" Stephen asked, glancing at her.

She blindly reached into her backpack and pulled out a book. "And this, it's a book on Celtic Fairytales. I found it at the used bookstore where I like to go to. I still haven't heard if they are accepting me as a hire."

"Ah, that's right. You applied for the re-shelving position they had open."

Yeah, it was the first job she ever considered on having. That's why she would need her car mostly, so that she could get to the place.

"Oh, my story is set in pre-turn of the century Ireland. I loved that time period of Dublin. Loud, flamboyant people, drunks and brawlers, I learned a lot from that time period."

She laughed slightly. "The Irish love to fight, I know, and it shows in your wrestling skills."

At least she was opening up.

With it a more cool morning now, instead of windy and almost too cold to type, they sat in silence, letting the words flow through their fingers. Sally would later come to admit that she liked spending the silence with Stephen, he made it pleasing to write around.

By the time Sally had to leave for her lessons, their individual word counts had gone up a few hundred.

"I have not actively gone down the writing path in my life." Stephen said as they were taking their chairs back to their places.

"You never tried to write anything?"

"Nah, I've been too busy with my wrestling career to think about writing."

"Maybe it's a good thing that you got hurt. You can now do something with your time." She ducked her head, smiling at her comment she made to him.

Stephen laughed. "I suppose. At least I am not getting bored with myself."

"Wait until week two, Stephen."

"What happens at week two?"

"Storm cloaks and lightning, it's a difficult time for NANO."

"Why would you say that?"

"I don't say that, the book by the founder of NANOWRIMO did, in his book No Plot, No Problem."

As they got to Stephen's front walk to his house, there was a figure on the side walk heading towards them. The sun was out, it was now warming up to a traditional Florida autumn day, but this day started to cloud over, in the form of Sally's older brother, Daniel.

"I need your keys, Sally." Daniel said, not looking at Stephen.

"What? No."

"Come on, Sally. You don't drive much anyway."

"No, you took my car without asking. I worked hard to save up for it. I don't need you wrecking it." She tried to walk around him.

"Dang it, Sally. I want your car. Give me the keys now." He reached out and grabbed her arm, the one that was carrying her lawn chair.

"Oy, let her go, fella." Stephen called, getting the nineteen year old to look at him. "I don't know what your problem is, lad but harassing your sister ain't the way to go. I said let her go."

Daniel instantly dropped her arm. "Fine. Whatever."

He walked away, heading back towards the house where he and Sally lived.

"Oh kay." She said slowly. "This is getting strange. I'm sorry, Stephen, I don't know what's wrong with my brother. But thank you." Sally smiled as she bent to pick up her fallen lawn chair. "Hey, I think there is an evening Write In at the coffee shop on 62nd after hours tomorrow. It's mostly for adults, and…"

"And you would like to go, wouldn't you?" He smiled at her.

"Yeah, the teen write in is okay but…not really my thing."

"Well, we can go. When do you work next?"

"Uh, Today is Monday so it will be Wednesday after my morning lessons."

"How about I come to pick you up? It's not a problem. Tomorrow I have a morning appointment for physical therapy for my shoulder."

She nodded. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to try to get more words in today after my lessons."

"I'm gonna do the same. I'll be seein' ya, Sally."

She smiled, walking away with her things.

Stephen had to remind himself that she was eighteen. Granted an adult legally, but she was still a young woman. Just thinking about her, and all that she had to deal with being afraid of people, relying on him to be there and a friend, falling in love with someone nearly twenty years younger than he was propelled his need to write his emotions out into a story that popped into his head the other night.

"So you're writing now?" Stu Bennett, a friend and fellow coworker of Stephen's within the WWE, asked seeing some loose leaf papers with Stephen's handwriting on them. They were strewn out on Stephen's table.

"Something like that. Gallagher's daughter, Sally, is writing for a month." Stephen said as he reached for a whiskey glass in the liquor cabinet in his kitchen. "It's National Novel Writing Month. I never heard of it but she seems intent on writing a rough draft for the month."

"There is a sound in your voice, Mate." The Englishman said, crossing his arms.

"Sound, what sound?"

"You have some feelings for this Sally?"

"Oy, come on. She's only eighteen. She wouldn't think of me, old man as I am, like that."

"It's a new time frame, mate." Stu said as he accepted the glass from his friend. "In this age, sugar daddies are normal."

"She doesn't treat me like that. You're just pushing it."

"Well, not really. I was just busting your balls, Mate." Stu laughed as Stephen started cleaning up his paper mess. "So you're really going through with this novel thing, aren't you?"

"It's something to do with a bleedin' bummed shoulder that I can barely do anything with. Actually, it's quite fun."

"Well, as long as you're happy."

"I am."

"With her."

"Damn it, Stu. There is nothing going on between Sally Gallagher and meself." Anger Stephen Farrelly, his accent gets thicker. Stu only did it to see if he could get a rise out of his friend.

Taking the last gulp of his whiskey, Stu laughed. "Just making you squirm, Ste. Don't think I have it in me to beat up a grandpa like you."

Still, Stu's badgering about Sally hit a nerve in him.

All sorts of questions kind of bombarded Stephen when Stu left for the day, like was Sally using him.

"I'm no bleedin' school boy."

He decided that he didn't need to do anymore writing for the day. Stephen would leave it for his writing session in the morning with Sally.

* * *

**Yes, four days down and twenty six to go. It was longer than I expected but that's okay. How do you think it's going?**


	5. Day 5: 8,333 Words

**Day 5: 8,333 Words**

* * *

**_He pressed his lips to her cheek, hoping, no praying that she would get the feeling he did. He wished they would not have to hide their love…_**

Stephen looked up when he heard walking. He'd expected that Sally would be at their usual spot on the beach that morning. She had not showed up. While he looked up he quickly saved his latest installment of his story as he watched the girl stomp up towards their sitting area.

Something was wrong with Sally. What was it?

"Lass, are you okay?" Stephen asked as she opened her chair.

There was a problem. Sally didn't have her tablet case with her. All she had was her flash drive, which was dangling around her neck like a necklace.

"It's Daniel, he stole my tablet. After last night I found one of my flash drives and decided to save my story folders. Well, guess what. This morning I woke up and there was no tablet. Thank goodness I saved the files on this," she grasped her flash drive, "but now I don't have anything to type on."

"Oh Lass, have you reported him."

"I have, even if my mom and dad are a little reluctant to, but Daniel is gone. No Daniel, his bedroom is trashed and empty of his things. He just sort of disappeared. Along with my Surface. I don't know what to do. Mom and Dad said they would take me to go get a cheaper laptop, but that won't be for a few days."

"Oy, I got an old laptop you can borrow until you get something new."

"I can?"

"When your lessons are done for the day, come over to my place and you can work on your story there."

"Okay. I'll let mom know when I get back home. So how are you doing in your story?"

"Slow going today. I hope I make the one thousand six hundred and sixty seven mark just to stay on track."

"I would like to publish my story. I mean, I love books, I love reading books like this. Maybe one day I will become a famous writer."

"That seems like a good wish."

"Yeah but the publishing companies are cut throat about what they want, who they want. They want something like a Rick Castle writer."

"Yes, but even that fictional man had issues with putting out his first novel didn't he?"

"You saw that episode?" She looked at him with a wry smiled tucked on the side of her mouth. "But I'm ready, I guess."

"Are ya ready for the Write In tomorrow?"

"Um, sure. It sounds fun."

"Nervous about going?"

"No, well, a little. But I know you're going to be there so it won't be too bad. Hopefully some don't know who you are."

The last time she was at a write in was with the teen group. Though it had not been a bad experience, she wanted to talk about writing and stuff, not the fact that she knew a famous person.

"Well, I'm done for now. Want to come back to my place…" Stephen started to say but was cut off by Sally.

"No, sorry, I have to get back to the house and start on my lessons. I hope you don't mind. But I'll come over later."

"When are you supposed to be graduating?"

"This coming year, because of the screw up with the tutor early this year I'm behind in my credits a little bit. I would have graduated this year but now I get to graduate in 2014." She said as she got up and folded her chair.

"That's good. I plan to be there when you do graduate."

After they separated once they returned from the beach, Stephen went to his home and Sally went to her home.

Over the next couple of hours, Sally worked on her lessons, her school work that was being given to her by her mother. While working on an English assignment, an idea about what her character, Joanna, was going to do next in the story and Sally had to write it down. She was the only one to be home schooled, her younger brothers were slightly younger and in high school. Killian was on the football team and Kevin, Killian's twin, was the President of the Student Body.

"Mom," Sally said, looking up from her work. "Have you heard anything from Daniel?"

"No, sweetie. I'm sorry." Her mother said as she looked up from her teacher's manual book. "Done?"

"Yeah, oh hey, Mom, can I ask you something?" Sally asked as she closed her lesson book. "If Stephen isn't busy for Thanksgiving, can he come to it?"

"Sure, I don't see why not. But you better ask you father, otherwise it wouldn't be nice to do it."

"I'll ask Stephen first. He may have some plans going on."

Grabbing her flash drive and her precious notebook, Sally about ran over to Stephen's place. For once she was excited about something in life.

When she rang the door bell, Stephen answered it in a pair of shorts and no shirt. And then her enthusiasm went down the drain, and her face lit up like a roaring forest fire, as red as Stephen's hair.

"Sorry, Lass. Come in. Just got done with some exercise," he said stepping in. "Didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"No, it's okay. I should be used to this, since you wrestle in…" she stopped herself.

"Yeah, that too. Come, I set up the laptop for you at the dining room table."

Stephen went and got dressed while Sally sat down at the table, plugged in her flash drive and picked up on her story where she left off at.

"What are you going to do about your mornings at the beach?" Stephen asked coming back into the dining room.

"Well I have a notebook for notes. I can write with a pen or pencil that way. Then I can go back over it with a word processor or something like that." She said typing away. "I take notes or whatever, and then transcribe them onto a document of my choice. Though, I am saving up for the writing program called Scrivener to help me with my novel writing. I heard about it through the .org website. Have you signed into that yet?"

"No, I didn't. I didn't know there was one."

"Well, since you have the internet on this thing, I'll show you." She typed up the website and showed him her page.

While she showed him her own personal page on the website, Stephen leaned on his good arm, looking over Sally's shoulder. He could smell cinnamon, tantalizing as it was, it smelled good on her. Stephen silently wondered if she was using some sort of Christmas themed body wash or hair product that made her smell so good. And that's when he forced himself to stop thinking about her like a woman and more like the little girl she should be to him.

After looking at the forums, and the description detail of the Scrivener item, which helped to plan, timeline and help a person write a novel, Stephen conceded with Sally.

"Maybe I would like to sign up. Winning seems fun."

"And you get discounts on things if you finish fifty thousand words." Sally said happily, pushing her large glasses up on her nose.

Her enthusiasm for writing was something he hardly seen in a person now a days. Stephen chuckled and went to sit back in his own chair.

They spent about half an hour working on their own individual stories, enjoying the peace and quiet that was until one of the people that had a key to Stephen's house barged in.

"Hey, mate, where are you?" The highly Scottish accent of Drew McIntyre rang through the front of the house.

Stephen saved his document and headed for where the Scotsman was.

"What are you doing here, Drew? I thought you were on the road."

Sally had gotten up and glanced around the doorway to where the tall Europeans were at in the front room. She didn't want to be noticed, not in the least. She was perfectly comfortable with Stephen, he was nice and quiet, but Drew was loud.

"Got any beers, mate. I'm thirsty." That's when he saw the blonde haired girl poking her head out around the dining room doorway. "You got someone here?"

"Sally, come here, Lass." Stephen looked at her.

Taking a deep breath she walked out into the front room. She pushed her blonde hair out of her face as she walked up to Stephen.

"This is Sally Gallagher, she's the lass from up the street. She and I are writing together."

"Stu said something about this. A month long of writing stuff." Drew looked her over. "Nice to meet you, Sally. I'm Drew." He held a hand out to her.

"Hi." She said, shaking his outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you, Drew. But I had a late start on my writing. Can I go back to it?" She asked Stephen, looking at him.

"Sure. I'm caught up, a few words a head actually."

Sally had been happy to leave, to go back to writing.

"Babysitting now?"

"She's eighteen."

"Really?" Drew perked up at that little piece of news.

"She's not a fan of people, but she's working on it. I think she has a counseling appointment on Thursdays."

"Do you have dibs on her."

"What, no. That's just wrong."

"So she's free dibs then?"

"Fella, don't think about it. She's scared of people. She doesn't care for kids her own age. Her Da basically forced her to hang around me, that's why she's a friend. I see her only as a friend."

"She's an adult, though, Mate. I think she can choose who she gets to be with."

Sally ducked her head when Stephen walked back into the dining room after Drew had left. She had heard what the two of them were talking about, but she wanted Stephen to think she didn't.

"All right, Lass. Let's get some words down." Stephen said sitting down at his own electronic device.

Needless to say that was the weirdest point in the month for Sally.

* * *

**Eh not the best but not the worst I would say. How'd you guys like it?**


	6. Day 6: 10,000

**Day 6: 10,000 Words**

* * *

Again, at six in the morning, Sally was out on the beach. As repetitive as this was, she found comfort in it. She was doing it out of wanting to do it. She wasn't afraid to go outside by herself, at least not for the last couple of years. The first time Sally came out to the beach was to write, bringing her lawn chair and some writing supplies.

Stephen found her, easily that is. With the sun still down behind the horizon, it was cooler now. They both wore sweatshirts but today Sally wore a specialized sweatshirt.

"You have merchandise from Nanowrimo?" He asked setting up his own chair.

Glancing from her notebook, she smirked before going back to writing. "Yep. I bought it from the website. Mom said I could. And I got this notebook, too."

The notebook had a typewriter on the front, from what Stephen could see.

"It gives me hints on what I need to do for each day, the word count goals. I'm using it to keep my story ideas in."

"Good for you, Sally." Stephen smiled as he settled into his lawn chair. "So after your lessons today, are you willing to go to the Write In with me?"

"I plan to, yes." She replied.

They made small talk but Stephen had a really good idea for his part of the novel he was writing. Sally enjoyed the quietness they shared, along with the rising sun that marked the sunrise part of the day.

At around nine, when they were heading back to their houses, Stephen asked, "Have you heard from your brother?"

"No, I haven't. No one has. And that's what scares me. I don't know what is up with him. I think it has something to do with drugs. He's been moody for a while now, maybe that's it." Sally said as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

Maybe, Stephen had heard of the effects of drugs on teenagers, and the lengths they would go to get what they wanted.

"He probably sold off my tablet to get money for a fix." Sally shook her head. She spoke as if she knew what he was thinking. "Okay, I'll see you later this afternoon, Stephen."

She lightly touched his arm as she turned to look at him. And then she made her way back towards her own home.

Sally had just finished up her school work for the day when she realized that she was in the house alone. Her mother Rochelle said that she needed to go out to do some shopping. That left Sally in the house alone, since her two younger brothers were gone at school. But with the time of the Write In looming, Sally was packing up to head back over to Stephen's place.

"He was really nice for letting me use his laptop." She said to herself as she headed down the stairs.

And standing in the front room, going through some drawers in the desk that was in the room was her brother Daniel. Daniel's unkept blonde hair hung loosely around his ears as he looked for something. He looked frantic, like he was hallucinating or high, or scared of something.

"Daniel, what are you doing here?" She asked, causing him to look up.

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here, duh. I'm on my way out. What are you doing here, Daniel. I thought you left."

"I need money. Do you have any?"

"No. And why did you take my tablet? Grandma gave that to me, Daniel. It was special. I want it back."

"You can't, I, I sold. I just need money, please."

"I'm leaving, and I'm not giving you any. Go find it somewhere else. You need to leave." She said.

"No, I just, I just, I just need some cash. That's all. And I need your keys again."

"No." She said, moving towards the door. She was scared.

She had every right to be scared. This wasn't like her brother. She knew this was not what he had been like for a long time. Maybe there was drugs involved, maybe she had been right.

"Sally, wait." He tried running after her, trying to grab her arm.

His hand missed her forearm, she could feel the cool breeze as it barely missed her. Not bothering trying to close the door, Sally ran for her life.

Stephen, having worried when Sally didn't show up on time for them to leave, had just stepped out of his house. When he closed the door, he turned and felt a smaller body collide with his, small arms wrapped around his middle and a face in his chest.

"Sally?" he looked down at the top of her head. "What's wrong."

"Daniel came back. He was looking for money. He wanted my keys, he wanted money so I ran. I thought he was behind me."

"I don't see him, Lass." Stephen looked around. "It's just us out here."

Sure enough, when she turned to look around there was no one else outside besides them. With the sun fully up, it was warm enough to not need a sweatshirt anymore.

"He was in the house, Stephen. I swear he was."

"Okay, okay, calm down, Sally." Stephen put his hands on her shoulders, and ran his thumbs over her shirt. "Lets go see if he's there and then we can close up before heading out."

Aside from the drawers that Daniel had been rifling through, nothing was out of place. And since Sally was carrying her keys, her car was still in the drive way. Stephen went ahead and checked the rest of the house, looking in each room and closet, just to be sure.

"No one is here, Lass." He said as he descended the stairs.

"I swear, he was here, Stephen."

"I can see someone was here. They left in a hurry I bet. Best to stay with me for now. Get a hold of your Ma and tell her what was going on."

"She's not here, she didn't take her phone."

"And ya still want to go to the write in, don't ya." He knew her well enough that when she was planning on something she got a little freaked out when it didn't happen. "I don't blame you, best to get your mind off of this." Stephen said as he guided her to the door. "We'll take my car. The laptop is in there anyway."

Hours later, and a phone call to her mother and her father, the family was sitting together in the front room. Sally's younger brothers were out at the moment, playing basketball with some friends at a park.

"Thank you, Stephen." Rochelle said, looking at the Irishman, as she sat with her arms around Sally.

"It isn't a problem, Rochelle," he answered, getting a nod by David. "But with this happening, maybe it is best to figure out what is wrong with your son. He scared her something bad today. It took an adult writing session to get her over what she went through."

"She can come over to my house any time she wants. I am home as it is, it isn't a problem for me."

Sally stood up. "I have homework to finish up and I want to get some words in before bed. Bye, Stephen."

She really was scared. He couldn't blame her. Her brother was on the loose and she didn't feel safe anymore.

* * *

**Not the best of updates but now I'm starting feel the struggle with writing this. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
